After the End
by Shocotate
Summary: "They had assisted Father's ascent to Godhood, but what came after? The question lingered in her mind, yearning for an answer. Her siblings always looked to her to know the answers, and here she went, crawling to her older brother for the same." As the only surviving homunculi, Pride and Lust try to make sense of their victory. [Post-Canon AU PridexLust.] For FMA Rarepair Week 2017


Written extremely late for FMA rarepair week on Tumblr, day 5: Apocalypse AU. This is set post canon in an AU where the homunculi won, but only Pride and Lust (and Father) survived. Pride also did not eat Gluttony.

FMA belongs to Hiromu Arakawa

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 **After the End**

 _Oh, but_ Xerxes _,_ _where Father was born. It's rather exciting._

 ** _I'm sure you'll find it enlightening. One day, I will come with you._**

Xerxes. Lust remembered his wish, her promise made nearly a century ago, and at last, in the haze of their triumph, her older brother could see it for himself. Father ventured westward, and his beloved remaining children ventured east, free to frolic as they pleased until the whole planet fell to Father's supremacy. But for the moment they slept, bathed in the great shadow of the palace ruins, the erstwhile centre of the world in which Father formed his perfect Plans so long before.

The wind whistled through the barren vestiges of Father's birthplace, piercing the silence. Its icy fingers eased Lust awake with a shiver. The two homunculi pushed closer beneath the cotton sheet, her almost covering Pride's small body completely, but in no worry of smothering him, while his true body rose up around them like a wall, keeping the wind that sliced across it at bay, mostly. They trembled in the watery moonlight, the tendrils twisting in on themselves.

Her brother's long, contented sighs crystallised in the desert air. An unneeded facade, possibly for her benefit, or perhaps his breathing remained as a habit from acting human too much. With his container's gentle heat seeping into her skin, Lust wrapped her arms around him, nestling tighter, determined to keep him warm. The shadowy hands coiled over her squeezed gently in response. They were warm, too.

A smile still faint on her lips, Lust slowly slipped back into a deeper slumber despite the cold. The thought of fetching her Xerxian robe – Father's most recent gift – flickered across her mind, but getting up seemed like more effort than it was worth.

All was still, silent and perfect once more, until she felt Pride wriggle out from under her, his shadows retracting and retreating into him. Her chin hit the stone floor with a quiet thump, and she opened her bleary eyes, yawning and stretching her nails. Soft, ivory waves of fading moonlight lighting his pale skin, he shimmied into his own robe, though he shook it thoroughly first. Maybe he was getting cold, after all.

"Pride?" She whispered, pushing up off her stomach. Lust stretched her nails further, reaching out to him, but he padded off, as if he hadn't heard her.

With her elongated fingers, the younger homunculus dragged the robe along to her and eased it over her head, smoothing it out as she stood.

Lust's footsteps bounced off the crumbled walls, echoing into the night. She found him sat at the edge of the palace courtyard, peering out over the remnants of the city below.

" **Beautiful, isn't it?"** Pride called from the half sand-buried steps. His equally new robe billowed around him, much like that of Father's previous form.

"It is." Lust failed to hide another yawn behind her sleeves.

" **It was not my intention to wake you. I merely wished to step outside for a while."** He explained, not an _apology_.

She sank down beside him, leaning back on her hands. They gazed out together, and Lust shuddered in delight at the thought that perhaps Father had once walked where they sat. Lust had visited here with Gluttony on Father's orders, but the scorched heat of the day blurred the sights, and her younger brother could not understand the gravity of this place. But here, in the dark of a night much like when the country perished centuries ago, she could appreciate its exquisite beauty fully.

Lust had destroyed much in her life, but gazing over the ruins, her own achievements paled in comparison. Father had always been so much stronger than them, full of a deeper darkness, compared to which even Pride seemed like the child he resembled. She thought briefly of Father, and of the pathetic humans he would soon be gracing. It seemed almost incomprehensible to her, for their plans to be at an end.

The souls within her heart churned, no more than usual, but something felt different, like they wallowed in a deeper despair at the familiarity of their home. The relatively miniscule amount of them drowned beneath the far more recent, lucid souls of the Amestrians.

Pride must have caught the far off look in her eye, and shuffled closer, coming to lean against her. To conserve their heat, he would say, surely. No need to waste souls out of carelessness.

"So," Lust began, tone light, conversational, as if they were discussing the weather like humans did, as she was once expected to. "What now?"

They had assisted Father's ascent to Godhood, as was the purpose of their creation, but what came after? The question lingered in her mind, yearning for an answer. Her younger siblings always looked to her to know the answers, and here she went, crawling to her older brother for the same.

" **We can go back to sleep, if you want."** His container's hands bunched on her robe lightly, releasing the fabric, only to bunch it up again.

"You know what I mean."

" **Perceptive as ever, dear sister."** Pride looked up at her with his lazy, lidded eyes, but no hint of his usual quiet malice. **"I should not expect otherwise. You are the second oldest,"** He did not say _youngest_ , given they were all that remained, but the ugly grinding of his shadow's flat teeth implied the thought burned inside him, even if not voiced. **"and have always been the most reliable of my younger siblings."**

Lust turned away, half to avoid his shadow's harsh, inward glare, half out of her own shame of not keeping the others alive. What kind of sister was she, to fail her younger brothers, _all_ of them?

 _Don't think about it._

"My, what have I done now to deserve such praise?" She laughed and brushed the idle flattery aside, just as Pride was no doubt trying to avoid the question.

Sitting up straighter, Lust lifted her hand towards the closest shadow, raking softly over the liquid surface. She stroked at its half open eye until it closed, and the whole shadow settled, a very slow, comfortable wave passing through it.

The younger sin blinked, startled. Ever since she could remember, his body had never truly settled, always tense, eager and rippling in anticipation. What had calmed him so? Was it being here, or had he finally come to process their victory, or something else?

" **You're here."** He sighed. **"When our flawless Plans began to unravel, I truly believed I would be alone after the Promised Day. But you have proven yourself – as you always have – to be my equal, Lust."**

She wanted to tell him that Father would someday revive the others, if only to convince herself, but he continued, his sudden calm bleeding out.

" **Ever since I was created, Father's Plans were always so clear, but now, I do not know his desires."** Pride's hands clenched on his hidden knees. **"While he makes the world anew, I know not what he wants of us, or where we should go."**

The eldest _admitted_ his uncertainty, an ashamed pink lining the container's cheeks. While the 'we' and his trust of her were comforting, in their mutual uncertainty Lust felt more lost. Imagine, Pride, unsure of anything in his life.

She glanced at his wilted shape beside her, his shadow, and up to the multitudes of stars above. What could she do? What could she possibly say?

Something cold slid against her, one of his true hands coiling around her wrist, as if longing to make sure she was still there. It slithered up into her palm, quivering. Lust folded her fingers over it, stealing its cold away again.

Maybe… they could feel lost together.

She weighed the words up in her head. It was worth a try.

Of course, homunculi did not _try_ ; they _accomplished_ Father's wishes without error. Though, these being her own wishes, it felt like nothing more than feeble try, to comfort her older brother and silence his disquiet thoughts.

"This world is all but ours now." She said, clear, confident. "Father shall reshape it as he so desires, and we'll be here when he needs us." She addressed the multiple eyes in his shadow, _him,_ rather than his vessel, and watched their steely glitter slowly melt and shimmer. Its teeth bled along the shadow only to gape. "Until then, Father _trusts_ us to conduct ourselves properly."

Her own pride swelled in her chest at the thought. Indeed, Father trusted them enough to bless them with this independence. If only poor Greed had learned some _patience_.

" **You are right, Lust."** Pride wrapped his short arms around her, burying his face into her. She yelped quietly, and saw his mouths curve into innumerable grins. **"We shall remain steadfast and make ready Xerxes, and any other land, for Father's return."**

Lust nodded, settling her spare hand on the small of his back, easing him flush to her. Naturally, this was not _him,_ but the container was perfect, too, as Father had intended long before her creation. It fit in her arms like it was made to belong there, a pleasant, familiar weight against her.

"Should we go to Xing, after this?" She suggested. Apparently some Xingese could detect their 'pressure', but that hardly mattered now.

His eyes widened at the prospect, to _choose,_ their magenta depths glistened as he fully grasped their new freedom. Pride considered it, but shook his head, his hair brushing her neck.

" **Father was** _ **born**_ **here. We cannot leave so unceremoniously. Perhaps we should stay a while longer."**

"As you wish, brother." More of his shadows cloaked her, enough to imitate her homunculus clothing over her robe. "It matters not _when_ we grace Xing with our presence." Lust sighed, rather relieved to not be plunging back into the forbidding desert immediately. "In the meantime, however, humans often come to visit Xerxes."

She cupped his face with her lances, and he raised his head, staring up serenely, mouth in a drowsy smile.

"We can show them how _foolish_ that is." Lust purred, and caught the hot flash of bloodlust in his eyes, his ardent desire in something besides pleasing Father, his delightful little shiver. Their Sins had poured into each other long ago, it seemed.

Pride's sharp, pointed tendril rose up and nuzzled into her cheek, its teeth scraping her very lightly, tender, like a kiss.

" **Yes, I'm sure we can."**

They embraced tightly, and greeted the first rays of the new dawn together.

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I wish I could have got some more things done for rarepair week, but oh well I'm happy with what I did :)


End file.
